The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-02-25
THE WORK OF BOOK AGENTS.
Some of the characteristics of "A Success
fuI Agent.

some of the characteristics of "a Success
fuI Agent.
In the issues of the daily papers the eve
daily meets with advertisements which offer
i'll rose-tiuted English the most fiattering in
lucements to book agents. These advertise
merts are answered 10y men of all grades,
ability and appearance, and the publisher or
general agent then proceeds 10 sound his
man to discover, in fact, whether the
candidate can Ice utilized or not. Seven men
failures ont Of every ten tried. The book
agent ought to he of good address, good
education. scrupuloUlsy neat and extremely
polite. such men can usually find more
congenial work, and are only agents tenn
porariIy. There are many of them, how
ever, who remain III the field year after
year, making a good living and meeting
with all manner of men and experiences.
The average agent makes little more than
a living. One day he is liable 10 make
enough To keep him a month, and with bad
weather or physical disability he is running
the risk of making nothing for week. The
business resembles gambling more than any
thing else i'll its results. He is deserving of
better treatment than is usually accorded
him generation of John l.. Sullivan book
agents would do much to place the profes
sion on that plane where it rightly belongs,
and it is IA marvel that some venturesome
canvasser loes not attempt some of his forci-
BILE methods.
The profits in subscription books are very
great. TIE average commission tn agents is
10 per cent, and as high as 60 per cent. has
been paid. Three sales day will as a
rule, furnish a good living to an agent, but
he Is prone to forget that he must average
nearly three calls to customer, and that
also much depends on the weather. The sale
of Gen Grants Memoirs was a big thing
for book agents, Yet few of them saved any
thing from it. The work being in two vol
unes. required a doulAe delivery and per
haps four calls To each subscriber. In other
words, the agent must make enough in one
day To last him four days, or his work was
in vain The average book of travel, remin-
iscences or memoir is sold by the agent for
81. OF that sum the canvasser receives
81 80 the general agent 60 cents and the
publisher has made profit of 50 cents.
The manufacture of the book has cost so
cents. Cheap editions of the works of Dick
ems, Scott Thackeray, Irving and other
standard writers are being sold at prices
that seem wonderfully cheap, but the facts
are that better percentage of profit Is made
than the early and more expensive edi-
tiOns.
The sale of subscription books on the in
stalment plan is II recent venture. Standard
works are sold on weekly payments. This
innovation opened up TO the agent a field that
he could otherwise never reach. II makes
sales easier, but the agents commission is
much less unless he pays the cash himself and
does his own collecting. Ii he can afford TO
do thet he can make more by the instalment
plan method, as he gets better price from
the customer. Works by a man of world
wide reputation, whether he be a literary
man or not, always sell best. Grants name
sold his work, and the sale would have been
nearly great hail it been volume of
poems Chicago Tribune.